1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a personal size, handheld dispenser for solid pharmaceutics, foodstuffs, edible articles, tablets and the like comprising a container having side walls and a removal opening, a lid connected pivotally to the container for closing the removal opening and a bottom of the container displaceable in the direction towards the removal opening.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Although such a dispenser can fundamentally also be used for dispensing "pourable" agents, intended in particular is the dispensing of pill or tablet-like preparations, for example disc-shaped, right-parallelepipedic or cubic dragees, or also tablets with corresponding shape.
In particular disc-shaped tablets are packed in a cylindrical container which can be sealed by means of a screw lid or cover. The removal of the tablets is correspondingly complicated because the screwing movement necessary for removing the cover requires the use of both hands.
The peppermint dragees sold, for example, under the name "VIVIL" are packed in a personal size imprinted foil package which after the opening and removing of the first dragee can be provisionally closed again only by pressing its opened end together and therefore has an unattractive appearance. There is also the danger of the entire content dropping out of the foil package; finally, the clean dust-free reclosure of this package is not possible.
A further embodiment of a personal size, hand-held dispenser for solid pharmaceutics end edible articles is used for the dragees sold under the name "Tic-Tac" and comprises a container having a bottom and side walls and a lid connected pivotally to the container.
Said lid or cover is formed integrally with the upper part of the container and can be pivoted upwardly so that individual dragees can be taken from the dispensing opening then exposed. This box-shaped dispenser is admittedly more hygienic than a pure foil package but has the disadvantage that the handling is relatively difficult and impracticable because the individual dragees must be "shaken out" through the relatively narrow opening. In addition, after removal of the first dragee the interior space of the container is no longer completely filled so that the remaining dragees can move in the interior space of the container, which is now too large, and "rattle". The noise thereby developed is particularly unpleasant when rigid plastic is used for the container.
This free movement of the articles and the resulting noise development also occur by the way with the usual can-shaped containers for tablets; it has also the disadvantage that the sensitive brittle articles can be damaged or even destroyed by the vibrations and shocks in the free movement.
Finally, personal size, hand-held dispenser for solid pharmaceutics and edible articles of the aforementioned type are disclosed in Austrian patents 166,326 or 214,350 and comprises a container having side walls and a removal opening, a lid connected pivotally to the container for closing the removal opening and a bottom of the container displaceable in the direction towards the removal opening. The bottom is biased by a spring upwardly in the direction towards the lid so that the uppermost article, for example lozenges, tablets, sweets, cigarettes or the like, are held by a stop provided at the upper end of the container casing. The lid comprises an advancing member which on opening of the lid pressure laterally against the article and pushes the latter forwardly transversely of the container axis over the container edge so that said article can be gripped by the lips and thereby reaches the mouth in hygienically satisfactory manner (Austrian patent 166,326).
A similar constructional form is disclosed in Austrian patent 214,350, the advancing element being formed by a spring-biased tongue which after the advance or ejection of the uppermost article in the pivoted-out position engages the remaining stack, or, if all the articles have already been ejected, the bottom of the container under pressure; by means of which with the now predominant spring force of the tongue the respective article to be ejected is completely relieved of the effect of the pressure spring effecting the advance of the articles.
A disadvantage in these known dispensers is the relatively complicated structure with the additional advancing element; in addition, it is not possible to recognise the filling level of the container from the outside; finally, it is not ensured with the desired certainty that the content of the container is protected from outside influences and thus stored satisfactorily from the point of view of hygiene.